Go
Good point!
I turned on my SDS200 w/logging and captured these hits today off just the Rocky Top site. Real loud signals.
Thank you for the report @Vern . Could you tell me what the control channel frequency is?
Could someone take a look at my set-up in ProScan and see if something can be found that I have missed?
My BCD325P2 indicates "Finding Control Channel" when stopping on a talk group. I am receiving from the Murphy site in the next county over .
Posting a screenshot also:
My BCD325P2 indicates "Finding Control Channel" when stopping on a talk group. I am receiving from the Murphy site in the next county over .
Posting a screenshot also:
I'll have to set it up again, will try to get back with you tomorrow.
mikell68
Member
Heard a new Viper TG today in Surry County. TG 52242. Seemed to be a group (at least 2) of NCHP patrolmen catching speeders on I-74 in Surry County near Exit 8 Red Brush Road.
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I got this marked as NC SHP Spec Ops
Typically most of the TGs from 52232 to 52254 are available for law enforcement and I've monitored local, state and feds using them when they want to avoid the normal agency TGs bit still want to communicate between other agencies if needed.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are these LAW talkgroups available on viper.
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ccfire
Member
Any news on if they are going to add towers in western Cherokee county
BCasto
Member
Stupid question from an aged bit head, how do I know what agencies/departments use which Viper Sites? I can often hear the same agency/dept radio traffic from multiple antenna sites. I see in RR db that each tower has "neighbors" but that doesn't mean they broadcast the same traffic. I can open each counties TGs, but it is not clear which towers they use. My quest is to limit the overlap on my scanners by agencies/depts that use multiple Viper sites. Is there anyway to identify what towers each agency/dept is using?
Not unless you are a VIPER Tech
Seriously, there is no published lists, typically the rule is (for locals) the county plus surrounding counties, but that doesn't mean, as you mentioned, all towers carry the same traffic. State agencies I believe can affiliate with any tower. In short, for the primary tower you just need to do your own investigative logging and tracking TGs heard.In Wake County, the majority of EMS traffic seems to be on the West Raleigh Tower, State Agencies (other than SHP) tend to be on Training Center Tower most often, State Capital and Legislative Police tend to be on Archdale and NCSHP Training Center Tower.
BCasto
Member
Thank you.. I have begun that work. I live in Morrisville and can't hear the Archdale, Wendell, Little River, or NCSHP Training Center sites. I am sure I am missing some county traffic. But the Med Network uses most of the Viper airtime. Maybe we should start a new DB capturing TGs by Site..Not unless you are a VIPER Tech
In Wake County, the majority of EMS traffic seems to be on the West Raleigh Tower, State Agencies (other than SHP) tend to be on Training Center Tower most often, State Capital and Legislative Police tend to be on Archdale and NCSHP Training Center Tower.
It wouldn't be consistant, County EMS units (for example), due to staffing shortages, are all over the place, if in Morrisville, Fuquay, Creedmore or Wake Forest it will probably be different, very hard to consistantly track when that's the case. Also, what about units/agencies just passing through that happen to key up/affiliate? Maybe you can start a wiki tracking page, but I doubt a database entry would work.
Additionally, most people aren't concerned, you listen to the towers you can hear and get what traffic pops up.
As noted by others, there's no definitive way to know what talkgroups will be active on a given site at any given time. It's dynamic, meaning it changes over time. Subscriber radios affiliate and de-affiliate as they travel through a site's coverage area. System managers have to manage channel loading on each site (there are a finite number of voice paths available on each site, and it's critical to avoid site saturation as much as possible). This is why affiliation is dynamic. No need to carry a talkgroup's radio traffic if there is no one listening on that site.
You can make some educated guesses about which talkgroups will be carried on a given site most of the time (for example, a county's primary law enforcement dispatch talkgroup is likely to be carried on the "primary" site for that county most of the time). But that same talkgroup may not be carried on nearby sites all the time, or even most of the time, even if it's permitted to be carried on those nearby sites. You are correct that the site "neighbor list" has no relation to which talkgroups are carried on a given site.
With some software capable of logging channel grant activity (like Pro96Com, or Unitrunker, or DSDPlus), you can build a pretty good list of talkgroups that are "commonly" carried on each site. Let the software log activity for a few days and then sort the results by talkgroup. You can accomplish this by monitoring with a scanner and manually noting the talkgroups you hear, but that process is quite tedious.
The control channel decoding software also shows talkgroup affiliation denials, which can actually be more useful. If you know a talkgroup can't be carried on a particular site, that's useful information to eliminate those groups from your programming.
Disclaimer - I don't monitor VIPER much, but I monitor Palmetto 800 in SC regularly, and the systems are managed in a similar manner. I have actually started compiling a list like one you refer to (talkgroups by site) for Palmetto 800. There is currently no way for the RR database to store this information, so it's probably best suited for the Wiki.
You can make some educated guesses about which talkgroups will be carried on a given site most of the time (for example, a county's primary law enforcement dispatch talkgroup is likely to be carried on the "primary" site for that county most of the time). But that same talkgroup may not be carried on nearby sites all the time, or even most of the time, even if it's permitted to be carried on those nearby sites. You are correct that the site "neighbor list" has no relation to which talkgroups are carried on a given site.
With some software capable of logging channel grant activity (like Pro96Com, or Unitrunker, or DSDPlus), you can build a pretty good list of talkgroups that are "commonly" carried on each site. Let the software log activity for a few days and then sort the results by talkgroup. You can accomplish this by monitoring with a scanner and manually noting the talkgroups you hear, but that process is quite tedious.
The control channel decoding software also shows talkgroup affiliation denials, which can actually be more useful. If you know a talkgroup can't be carried on a particular site, that's useful information to eliminate those groups from your programming.
Disclaimer - I don't monitor VIPER much, but I monitor Palmetto 800 in SC regularly, and the systems are managed in a similar manner. I have actually started compiling a list like one you refer to (talkgroups by site) for Palmetto 800. There is currently no way for the RR database to store this information, so it's probably best suited for the Wiki.
One more comment - as RaleighGuy noted, with traditional scanners that support system "wildcard" talkgroups or ID Search mode, it's not super critical to know which talkgroups are or are not carried on a site. You're going to hear the active talkgroups whether you have the programmed or not (but you won't necessarily see an alphatag). I still use the PSR-500/PRO--197 "family" of scanners, and those scanner have a hard limit on memory, so one has to create configurations with that limit in mind. Paring the list of programmed talkgroups is important.
The but there is no scan "penalty" when scanning a trunked system. What I mean is that whether you're scanning a trunked system with 1 talkgroup programmed, vs 1000 talkgroups programmed, the scan cycle for that system is the same. Obviously, more talkgroups likely means more radio traffic, so you're going to hear more, and therefore, miss more traffic on talkgroups that aren't the active talkgroup at any given time. Strategic use of priorty scanning scan helps avoid missing important traffic. But if you're monitoring a trunked system that is idle at the moment, it's going to cycle to the next frequency or system just as quickly regardless of the number of talkgroups programmed.
This is not the case with conventional frequencies - scanning 20 conventional channels vs 100 conventional channels makes a big difference in the relative "speed" of the scan cycle -- it slows the cycle down. Likewise, the more trunked systems in your active scan list, or the number of individual sites (control channels) to be monitored sequentially all add time to the scan cycle. This is why "database" scanning isn't usually a good choice - it includes a lot of channels and systems that you're probably not interested in.
The but there is no scan "penalty" when scanning a trunked system. What I mean is that whether you're scanning a trunked system with 1 talkgroup programmed, vs 1000 talkgroups programmed, the scan cycle for that system is the same. Obviously, more talkgroups likely means more radio traffic, so you're going to hear more, and therefore, miss more traffic on talkgroups that aren't the active talkgroup at any given time. Strategic use of priorty scanning scan helps avoid missing important traffic. But if you're monitoring a trunked system that is idle at the moment, it's going to cycle to the next frequency or system just as quickly regardless of the number of talkgroups programmed.
This is not the case with conventional frequencies - scanning 20 conventional channels vs 100 conventional channels makes a big difference in the relative "speed" of the scan cycle -- it slows the cycle down. Likewise, the more trunked systems in your active scan list, or the number of individual sites (control channels) to be monitored sequentially all add time to the scan cycle. This is why "database" scanning isn't usually a good choice - it includes a lot of channels and systems that you're probably not interested in.
Talkgroup 52817 encrypted being used by Governor's security detail, C-3 SHP unit, and others, not in database.
@ccfire
Someone I know on the county volunteer fire department said that money was going to be spent in 2023 on some kind of upgrade for the Joanna Bald tower in Graham County.
He was not aware of any plans for a site in the West.
Looking for some RID/UID help...
Recently I've been hearing units on the NCDOCDCCDIV3 TG 51617 with radio IDs of 21700xx, sounds like Parole and Probation units but the RIDs are new and I haven't logged them before, however the unit numbering matches P&P. Wondering if anyone has confirmed the usage?
Recently I've been hearing units on the NCDOCDCCDIV3 TG 51617 with radio IDs of 21700xx, sounds like Parole and Probation units but the RIDs are new and I haven't logged them before, however the unit numbering matches P&P. Wondering if anyone has confirmed the usage?
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